'THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL': A STUDY IN LITERARY NATIONALISM, 1870-1900

283 Pages·12.133 MB·English

by  CAMPBELL, CHARLES ALEXANDER, JR

"XU OHtt* AMKRYuAM MOVBL"* A. STUDY ZM LZXKBMQT MITIOMJLLIBM,
1870-1900
A T hN li
Wbaltttd to ttoo Graduate VmuI^t
of the
University of Minnesota
Oharlos A* Oanpbell, Jr.
Xa Partial Fulfillaenfc of tho Requirements
for tho
Degree of "
Doctor of Philosophy
Deoeuber
1961
I'aL'AiL Xi1 OX-.t. I? 6
GhAfTLtt X.»T£l i_.Xin.HAlU.xt x .' Viit GE.viiAXXl Iw . XT'’ nh,. . In. * . i
o. AX' • . i»* n • FhE I It UE XX -C . ^-AX • .. a XX.- -0 n X A.' X Jl* . . . « « 6
C hapter oummary ...................................................................................22
n *AF - ‘Vk hh . Ai.Ii i dG-•.!•:•..A l'h. j.Ii ..XX. UnE i UxT AXvlSK 25
C hapter o iu n u ia rj'.................................................................. 44
nnxdrxii.t rxUn; xnE jaaUO.. itii Al. XX-’"- Iwn ia XXa G ...........................46
Great j'e re i^ i j - o c e l a ............................................ 46
I o .noicuine or Exciuoe nuiope& i . iction'i . . 06
Chap-1 er Cun e r y ................................................. 72
otuU?i'iu. r iv b.j MX'..t 0 1iiXlCl ~x$ /XaGi a . - RaF. i'-OGm xr'
aj-GuXOaI' LIcE1* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
‘Ihe lixl iuesjce of i nx* “ Ira" it. io n a l" c>onool . 79
j.he "liru’iatur l t y 11 of xXmerica i c u ltu re . . . 85
The R evolt A/ a In st Luc Society ovel . . . 92
Chapter Sum m ary...........................................................................H I
C.tAfi la oL.i mTR0K TO ITUS LOoiC Xc a x iL x ii" ........................................116
C hapter S u m m a r y . loh
GnAPiixn. jawLR: “sPaxXouj X - hh'Siu #M XA ‘’xiiE ji.ALX.G6T
Spii .mi. Xi1 Xl.-X- on X i' on nt.GP E..xUXi " t . . . 136 *
The S e c tio n vs* th e a t i o n ............................................... 166
the je c tio a s ................................................. . . 1 5 6
i'he b o u t n ...............................................................................................154
The .lest . . . . . . . . ....................... . . * 1 5 7
The Apnroacn oi <■. t i cnal ism . . . . . . . . 161
Cnaprer o u r'fry .................................... 170
GnxxPiER nxoul; TiiE SxaaC.. rx , a ox; j n «_i.j. h i u i . . . . 17c
P o litic s ................................................ 17c
■ ip Ainf i ican ....................................................................... 182
.......................................................................................................................18b
CABLE or CO«TEMT» (Cont'd.)
h u ll fom ti* City ..............................• • 187
■ • o r .................................................................................................
Character fypoa 198
Chapter Summary ..............................................
OAMR SXSBI CHI BMPOsSZBZLZf H8 Of THE AMERICAS M07ELXBT SOI
A t fep rtiiim i of Amorioaa X d o a lt.................199
A rt for A rt'a la k o ...................................................... SIS
Tho Boopoooib llitlo o of tho M orallot • • . • • SIT
Chap to r Summary ......................... SS4
O ttP m TBIl TO OUST AMERICAS SOVSLIST...............................£S7
•poolfia Oandidatoe................... 8ST
Ohaptar Summary........................... S49
That la Summary .......................................................... SSO
BIBLX0Q8AFHI ............................................................................887
Addaada .......................................................................................... b# a* d
To represent by the uae of a medium whioh carries in the
fiber of its structure reflections ami refractions of an alto­
gether different experience—to represent by auoh a medium the
experience of a new and altered world—is the labor to which
the writers of the Americas have been oommitted since the
beginning of their history. . . .
— Arohibald i-.aoxeish
CHaPTEH I
LlfEhATUhE III THE GhJJEhATlGN OX' HEUiNION
"The Great American Novel," herein to Le considered, is a
literary oonoept as vapue and ill-defined as any of the tag
phrases whioh litte r American book reviews and literary histories
It nas been called a "strange myth,"^- and ii; has been dismissed,
perhaps too readily, as no more than the shibboleth of a
"popular oritical game" played for thirty years in tn era marked
by "parochial weakness
Nevertheless, as I hope to show, the conoept encompasses
the literary theories and aspirations of an entire generation
of American writers and oritics* The professional authors of
that generation struggled with the problems of literature in the
trying years between 18 70 and 1000. They were concerned, in
their various and yet collective ways, with the relation of
literature to life , and with the survival of the a rtist in a
seemingly hostile sooiety, with the problems, that is to say,
whioh are always the same, and always a lit t le different*
* The period in whioh they lived was in many ways remark­
able, but most remarkable perhaps in that it saw the reuniting
of two sections which had waged a bitter four-year civ il tar.
1 Howard ti. Jones, The Theory of American Literature (Ithaca
N* 1*, 1948), 128.
2 Herbert h. brown, "The Grea^ American iovel," American
Literature, VII, 1-14 (inarch, 19^5). brown's article seems to me
■o on* T i«*io| diipuai«M t«l]r ths ap«otael« of Beoonstruotion
la 1870 oould reasonably hare predieted that la thirty yaara
tho United Stotoo would oator a aat oentury with lta woinda
largely healed. "This opoody reeonoillatlon," Paul a. Buck hats
said, **008 a striking illu stration of tho dyaaaio foroo exerted
8
by nationalism in tho Mineteenth Century." And it is with
nationalism, of soars s . that tho eoneept of tho groat Isariaaa
novel is obviously and deeply involved. What wo hare before as.
then, is tho study of literary nationalism in one of tho orasial
periods of daeriean history*
Tho investigator of literary nationalism finds him self
faoed by formidable obstaolos. not tho least of whioh is an
adequate definition o f torus, "nationalism." Baway Muir re­
marks. "is an elusive idea, d iffio u lt to define."* and it is not
by aoeidenb that rriodrioh Herts en titles one of the sub-chapters
of nationality in history and Pel it las "The lfcrstery of nationalism.
rather superficial, if not mutually misleading, ■smells , he says,
made fun of the whole business of the great daeriean novel. Tut.
as we shall see. ■smells devoted eons Id or able apeee to the matter
of national expression in the novel. Other studies o f the oonoopt
are even less sat is fa story. Lennox B. Orey's Ohioans and "The
Or eat dmsrlean Bevel" (unpublished dissertation. w m riT ty o F
(bloago. 195(1) contains two referenoes to the great dmsrioan novel.
8 ihe Bead to Beunlon. 1888-1900 (Boston. 1998). v lll.
4 nationalism and Internetlonalism (London. 1918). 61.
6 (Bov York. 1944).
Bernard Joseph dsrotes a nsaber of pages to Its definition,
noting d issatisfastlen with tho praetleo of equating "nationalion"
and "national se lf consciousness."* Bueh am biguities. however,
seen almost inevitably to aeeocpany any d iso us s ion o f nationalism .
Ksperts have attempted, nevertheless, to set lim its on the
term. The most reliab le authority, and the least given to partisan
sentim ent, is Oarltom J. Bayes, from whose writings the major
portion o f th is dissuasion is drawn.* Bayes finds it neeessary
to distinguish between "nationality" and "nationalism." whioh
are. however, elosely related. "Batlone1ity" he defines as "a
group of people who speak either the same language or elosely
related d ialects, who ehorlsh som oi hlstorloal traditions, and
who ooaotltute or think they constitute a d istin ct cultural
soolety."* The oonvistion o f ths msnbere that they compose a
d istin ct cultural society is borne out. Bayes b elieves, by the
observable facts of the d istin ctive culture pattern which each
nationality possesses. "Bhtlenallan." he points out. donates a
condition of mind among members of a nationality, "a condition of
mind in which loyalty to the ideal or to the fast of one's national
atato is superior to a ll other loyalties and of which pride in
* B btlsnallty. Its Bature and Problems (hew Baven. 1929). 29.
T Bsc aye on nationalism (Bov York. 1926) and his artlole on
"Bat ionalisn Cfrhaarslepodla of the Boolal Bo lances (Bov York. 1985).
XI.
• laaayo. M .
om 'i nationality and to lia f la its intrinsic uo «11«dm and la
ita 'alaaloa* ar« integral parts." Slaoa nationality produces
aatloaalIan* it la apparent that tha b aliaf that tha aatioaality
aonatltutaa a dlatlaat aultural aoolaty should alao ba aa
assentlal characteristic • f nationalism . That p olltlaal and
aultural aatlaaalftaa ara laaaparabla la aa ebeerwatlon a imported
by haao Kahn* who aharaetaritaa aatlonallaa aa a Matata of alxdf
permeating tho largo najorlty of a paopla and claiming to paraaata
a ll ita ncubcra; it raoogaiaaa tha aat loaal atato aa tha Ideal foam
of p olltla al organisation and tha nationality aa tha aauraa o f
10
a ll or a at It o aultural energy and af ooonomie well-being •**
Nationalism* hoaerer* la nora than a atate or oondltlon of
wind. St algnlflea tha actual hlatorleal proooaa of oatabllahlng
tha nationality aa a po lit leal unit* or building tha nodam In­
stitu tion of tho national atato* Aa Kohn ranarks*
nationallan • • • gaina tho anatlonal warwth of concreteness only
through tha affoeta of aa hlatorleal derelopnent which* by neana
of education* aaononle Interdependence, and aorraapoadlng p olltlaal
and aoalal Institutions* brlnga about tha Integration of tho
naaaaa and th eir ldentif leatlon with a body far too groat for any
conorata experience*^
Thla aorraapoads in aaaanoa to Merle Curt 1*a description of
"organic nationalism*”*2 aa It affected American Intellaetuala
• laaaya* 6*6*
10 Tha Idea o f Motionallan. (Baa York* 1944)* 16*
11 Ibid. 8.
12 Tha Koota of Aawrlcan Loyalty (new York* 1948)* 176*
after tha C ivil War* tha Idea that tha nation la considered "a
1!▼lag organism* not a contractual relationship* personality
a
and an entity* composed of body* mind* and soul* net a mere
voluntary association of p olitical oomnunitlas•M Reinforcing
th is abstract organic nationalism was tho expansion o f p o litica l
and economic a ctiv ities to a nation-wide field* and the Ideal
was seemingly bolstered by the real*
but what was the effect of the concrete upon the abstract?
Although Hayes does not lim it his remarks to the course of
American history* he Indicates that modern nationalisms developed
along sMoh tho same lines* and that what Is true of the general
may be extended to ths particular, nationalism* as It emerged
In its modern form* with the French Revolution* depended upon
the idea of popular sovereignty* which replaced the lcyalty to
ths ruling house. In America* nationalism manifested Itse lf In
ths documents which refleoted the ideal that Individualism and
self-reliance were part of a national heritage—the Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution, nationalism* in th is
early stags* was marked by lib erality. Suoh a b lissfu l state of
affairs was not destined to remain unchanged. Hayes notes that
nationalism Is destructive of lib erality because It places a
premium on uniformity* but he Is much more concerned with the
destruction of lib erality which a newer brand of nationalism* a
eonoosULtant of the Industrial revolution* seems to have brought
about. Production* organised on national linos* tondsd to
minimise the old individualism* and* aooordlng to Hayos* lod to
the supplanting of the intellectual and cultural vogue of foment 1-
olsm by what has convent tonally been termed "realism*" This
realism* he continues*
has been the product of a variety of novel factors* absorption
in the mechanical and u tilitarian aspects of the industrial
revolution* adsilration for the 'practical man* o f big Industry
and big finance; acceptance of a mechanistic theory of the universe
and of a m aterialistic interpretation of lnsnan behavior • • •
the vogue of realism has paralleled act only the intensification
of tho industrial revolution but • • • an epochal transformation
of nationalism***
This is perhaps the most important aspect of nationalism
with which writers on tho great American novel were concerned
from 1870 to 1800* Despite the indiffcrenoe of a number of
writers to the problem and despite the uncertainty of oonte^»orary
observers in their approach to the paradoxical nature of national­
ism* enough perceptive men indicated their reaction to the
changing national ideals to support the th esis that the problem
of relating literature to sh iftin g philosophies was an a ll-
pervasive one*
In 1989* Robert H olvell stated fairly satisfactorily ths
peculiar problems of the student of literary nationalism***
He must* said Bolwell* isolate ths nationalistic elements in
American literature, and* in particular* he must dlsolese the
*1 ftwyoloped la of ths fee lal golonsos* 848*
14 "Conoernlmg the Study of nationalism in American
Literature*” Amsrlean Literature. X* 408-418 (January* 1988).